MONTREAL – Maxime Talbot and Kris Letang scored short-handed goals 27 seconds apart midway through the third period to send the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 3-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.

Evgeni Malkin, poised to claim his first NHL scoring title, increased his point total to 113 with his 35th goal 1:09 into the game for Pittsburgh. The Penguins will face Philadelphia in the first round of the playoffs, with home-ice advantage to be determined Sunday when the Flyers host the New York Rangers.

Roman Hamrlik scored for Montreal, which will be the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference and face top-seeded Boston in the postseason.

Canucks 1, Avalanche 0

DENVER – Henrik Sedin scored 40 seconds into overtime and Roberto Luongo stopped 22 shots for his second straight shutout, helping the Vancouver Canucks clinch the Northwest Division title with a 1-0 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday.

By edging Calgary for first place, Vancouver’s second division crown in three seasons, the Canucks also locked up the third seed in the Western Conference playoffs in their final game of the regular season. Vancouver (45-27-10) will enter the postseason on a three-game winning streak.

Sedin scored by banking in a shot off the skate of Colorado defenseman Scott Hannan. It was his 22nd goal of the season.

Colorado, which will wrap up the season Sunday at home against St. Louis, will finish last in the West for the first time since the team relocated to Denver from Quebec in 1995. The Avalanche have the third fewest points (68) in the NHL, behind the New York Islanders (61) and Tampa Bay (66).

Devils 3, Hurricanes 2

NEWARK, N.J. – Dainius Zubrus scored with 4:26 to play and the New Jersey Devils took advantage of some favorable bounces to beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 in a possible preview of a first-round playoff series.

David Clarkson and Zach Parise also scored for the Devils, who won four of their last five games after enduring a season-high six-game losing streak.

Anton Babchuk scored two power-play goals for the Hurricanes, who gave star goaltender Cam Ward the last day of the regular season off after 28 straight starts.

Michael Leighton had 32 saves in filling in for Ward, but he made a bad clearing play on the game-winner by Zubrus and also was embarrassed when two bad bounces led to open-net goals in the first period.

Flyers 3, Islanders 2

UNIONDALE, N.Y. – Martin Biron stopped 30 shots and Simon Gagne had the game-winning goal and an assist as the Philadelphia Flyers beat the New York Islanders 3-2.

Joffrey Lupul and Mike Knuble also scored for the playoff-bound Flyers, who can finish as high as fourth in the Eastern Conference depending on the outcome of several later games.

Sean Bergenheim and Tim Jackman scored for the Islanders, who have lost three in a row. The Islanders took 13 of the game’s first 16 shots and Bergenheim scored on No. 13 .

Blackhawks 4, Red Wings 2

DETROIT – Dustin Byfugliuen scored on a penalty shot with 28 seconds left, breaking a tie and lifting the Chicago Blackhawks to a 4-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings.

Niklas Hjalmarsson netted his first NHL goal, and Ben Eager and Andrew Ladd also scored for Chicago. Brian Campbell chipped in with two assists, and Cristobal Huet stopped 21 shots.

Valtteri Filppula and Henrik Zetterberg scored for Detroit. Ty Conklin made 22 saves.

Byfuglien was hooked by Niklas Kronwall on a partial breakaway and was awarded the penalty shot. He beat Conklin with a high shot for his 15th goal.

Kings 4, Sharks 3

LOS ANGELES – Wayne Simmonds had a goal and an assist, and Jonathan Quick made 27 saves as the Los Angeles Kings finished their season with a 4-3 win over the San Jose Sharks, who still won the Presidents’ Trophy.

The Sharks (53-18-11) secured the top record in the NHL for the first time in club history when the Boston Bruins lost 6-1 at Buffalo earlier Saturday. Michal Handzus, Alexander Frolov and Peter Harold also scored for the Kings (34-37-11), who didn’t qualify for the playoffs.

Devin Setoguchi, Joe Pavelski and Patrick Marleau had goals for San Jose, which wrapped up the regular season and will be the top-seeded team in the Western Conference playoffs.

Wild 6, Blue Jackets 3

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Marian Gaborik had two goals and an assist to lead the Minnesota Wild past Columbus 6-3, ruining the Blue Jackets’ celebration for their first playoff berth.

Kurtis Foster and Mikko Koivu each added a goal and an assist, and Marc-Andre Bergeron and Martin Skoula also scored for the Wild, eliminated from the postseason picture on Friday night.

The Blue Jackets, who clinched their first postseason trip in their eight NHL seasons on Wednesday, entered the night in sixth place in the Western Conference.

Rick Nash, Jared Boll and Derek Dorsett had goals for Columbus.

Panthers 7, Capitals 4

SUNRISE, Fla. – David Booth had two goals and three assists to lift the Florida Panthers to a 7-4 win over the Washington Capitals in the regular-season finale for both teams.

Steve Eminger and Michael Frolik scored in an 8-second span to break a 4-4 tie in the third period. Nick Tarnasky added an empty-netter with 9 seconds remaining.

Radek Dvorak and Bryan McCabe also scored for the Panthers, who were eliminated from playoff contention on Thursday. Booth’s goals were his 30th and 31st of the season; he became the sixth player in Florida’s franchise history to reach the 30-goal mark.

Alexander Semin scored twice for Washington, and Brooks Laich and Alexander Ovechkin also got goals. The Capitals clinched the second seed in the Eastern Conference on Thursday.

Thrashers 6, Lightning 2

ATLANTA – Ilya Kovalchuk scored his 43rd goal, and the Atlanta Thrashers snapped a three-game skid with a 6-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning in the final game of the season for both teams.

Colby Armstrong scored twice, Eric Perrin, Ron Hainsey and Colin Stuart added goals, and Kari Lehtonen made 24 saves.

Tampa Bay rookie Steven Stamkos, the No. 1 overall draft pick, scored his 23rd goal early in the third period, and Matt Pettinger added a goal. The Lightning closed the season with a nine-game winless streak, dropping the last four in regulation.

Coyotes 5, Ducks 4

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Viktor Tikhonov scored in the fourth round of the shootout and the Phoenix Coyotes beat the Anaheim Ducks 5-4.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere, playing in relief of starter Jonas Hiller, made the initial save on Tikhonov’s shot with his left skate, but his leg and the puck barely crossed the goal line to give the Coyotes the victory.

Anaheim, which lost for the third time in 13 games, moved one point ahead of St. Louis for seventh place in the Western Conference. The Blues finish the regular season Sunday in Colorado.

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